How to Create a Spiritual Practice

Make Magic Everyday by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener

A foolproof way to stay sane and grounded—no matter what’s going on—is through a maintained and ever-evolving spiritual practice. It’s a way to come back to Self and Source through a foundation of practices, teachings and techniques built on your lineage, intuition, creativity, needs, honesty, and ingenuity.

How do you construct a spiritual practice?
It’s both deeply personal and universal.

A spiritual practice is anything that helps keep you connected to a greater collective and the golden web of life. It reminds us of a larger why, and a bigger picture. It is anything that acknowledges the sacredness of your soul. It is anything that acknowledges the sacredness of others and the world around you.
A spiritual practice is how we connect to Spirit, to Source.
It’s how we conduct the Great Work: the alchemy of becoming whole.
It centers and connects you.
It heals you enough so that you might help others.
An abundant cup overflows.

A spiritual practice gets to be whatever you want it to be. Part of the fun is exploring what this means and looks like for you and you alone. Examples of this could include journaling, pulling Tarot cards, meditating, building and tending to altars, breathing, chanting, praying, art-making, music-making, sky-gazing, trance work, rituals, crying, ritual baths, hanging out with deities and planets, sex magic, communing with/talking to plants and animals, walking, channeling, and listening.

My spiritual practice integrates my magical practice, and I’m guessing if you’re a witch, yours does too. It is not lost on me that so much of witchcraft is having a relationship with plants, herbs, animals, and the land. Witchcraft is ultimately about relationships and connection.
So much of a witch's practice is staying connected, protected, supported, and aligned with both self and the greater collective. Knowing and working with what herbs, thought patterns, actions, or talismans that keep us supported and centered is practicing magic.

A spiritual practice helps us do the hard things and helps us in hard times.
It allows us to accept the things we already know, and allows us to sit with, and move through, our feelings and discomfort. Knowing how to honor and commune with your ancestors, how to alchemize the practical with the magical, and how to connect your intuition to the energies of the external, aids recovery.

In season 6 of my podcast Moonbeaming, I interviewed none other than the Hoodwitch herself and we talked about her spiritual practice, among many other topics. Bri Luna’s insights into the melding of self-care and magic and how to really honor your ancestors were as insightful and as funny as she is. This conversation gave me pause to take inventory of my own spiritual practice, to see how and where I can upgrade as well as focus back on the basics. Listen to the episode here.

To go deeper with your spiritual practice, you may also want to consider these prompts and suggestions:

 

How to Create a Spiritual Practice by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener

 

What is most important to you right now?
What is not?
Moving forward, how can you make the necessary changes to support what means the most to you? Can you start with 15 minutes a day?

Where is there fluidity in your life that feels good?
What does adaptability look like for you?
How can you make shifts to become more adaptable—especially with yourself?

Think about where or what you are ready to begin healing, right now.
Healing also can look like: dropping the rope, refusing to ruminate, not continuing an exhausting dynamic, laughter, quiet walks, making art, smelling the flowers, prolonged eye contact with friendly dogs, dance parties, and eating yummy food.

Identify where you are no longer willing to suffer.

How does gratitude function in your spiritual practice?
Sit at your altar every day this week and name all that you are grateful for.
(Remember that your body is an altar.)
Give thanks for all that you have as the dishes get washed, the grass is walked on, you share casual conversation with a kind person.

What lessons are you learning?
How will you be applying them as behaviors and actions?

What does feeling resourced look like?
Define ways that resources exist for you outside of money.
Then actively look for ways to gather resources. Do so, consistently.

Name what makes you anxious. Try to turn away from that which increases your anxiety.

How does movement play into your spiritual practice?
Figure out how you can move some of the energy you have (anxiety, unexpressed emotions, stagnancy) into yoga and/or dance, being in nature, art, connection, volunteering, etc.
If you are disabled, breathwork and breathing techniques can help you expand, release, and move energy. So can journaling, visualization, or future dreaming.

 

If you enjoyed this post, you'll love my weekly newsletter.

Click here to learn more and subscribe!